When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)
Gear

Years ago I purchased my first scope from a big box store like many others and after some time was discouraged by the lack of quality. I was busy, so lost interest in pursuing it further. It was this 4.5 inch Meade reflector on an Alt/Az Go To mount.
My desire now is to be able to photograph the objects I like to view, so I upgraded again to this Explore Scientific Maksutov-Newtonian. It has a meniscus correct lens at the front, a spherical primary mirror and elliptical flat secondary. This gives a flat field, coma free, color aberration free, and no star spikes from secondary mirror support veins.
152 mm mirror 731mm focal length f/4.8 focal ratio I use a Canon T3i for the imaging camera, a ZWO 120MC for guide camera which doubles as a planetary camera on the Dobsonian. The scope is mounted on a Celestron AVX equatorial mount. |

You can see a lot through binoculars also. I have a really nice 8x40 Minolta
binocular I've had for 35 years or more and this 25x70 set for looking deeper.
binocular I've had for 35 years or more and this 25x70 set for looking deeper.

This SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i is my latest purchase. It's very easy to "grab and go" for direct camera imaging of objects or the Milky Way. I mounted it on my old reliable Bogen 3050 tripod from my studio days, which makes a very stable base. It is equipped with WiFi so I can control it after setup without touching the camera or mount and so avoiding vibrations